Novel CuO/TiO2/PANI nanocomposite: Preparation and photocatalytic investigation for chlorpyrifos degradation in water under visible light irradiation

Visible light active photocatalyst, copper oxide/titanium dioxide/polyaniline (CuO/TiO2/PANI) nanocomposite, have been synthesized and utilized for chlorpyrifos degradation in water. The nanocomposite was characterized by some techniques including field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The structural properties confirmed that the nanocomposite was successfully prepared and optical properties revealed that the nanocomposite can be operated by visible light irradiation. The resulting nanocomposite was employed as photocatalyst to degrade chlorpyrifos in water and 95 % of pesticide was photo-degraded within 90 min illumination. Some parameters affecting the photocatalytic reaction such as pH, pesticide initial concentration, irradiation time and photocatalyst amount were optimized. The CuO/TiO2/PANI nanocomposite presented higher photocatalytic activity in comparison with CuO/TiO2 and TiO2/PANI under the same conditions. According to the obtained results, the nanocomposite band gap has been decreased, leading to decrease the recombination rate of photo-generated charges. That is why the nanocomposite catalytic efficiency has been improved.

Automated summary

The visible light active photocatalyst, copper oxide/titanium dioxide/polyaniline (CuO/TiO2/PANI) nanocomposite, shows high efficiency and superior performance in degrading chlorpyrifos in water, with the band gap decreased and recombination rate of photo-generated charges reduced.